The Secret
by Nolla
Summary: Set after Breaking Dawn, the tale of what happened to the Cullens continues. What will happen that will endanger them all? Rating possibly subject to change. Pairings are canon. Enjoy and comment
1. The Escape

She hadn't understood why people didn't like sharing their thoughts when they could be so interesting, informative and colourful but, as she'd gotten older, she finally understood and fervently agreed that people should have much more privacy than her father allowed them. She pretended to forget frequently that he didn't always deliberately listen to the thoughts of others and that he couldn't exactly block it out, like turning off a radio when the station played boring music. He was much more complicated than that. But, due to the unforgiveable decision to move her so far from her precious Jacob, she'd decided to overlook minor details such as this and tried to blame her family and find as many of their flaws as possible, determined to make them feel as miserable as she was. She knew it was wrong but she didn't care. She had never been denied anything that she wanted. She knew she was irresistible, something she hadn't ever thought much of. It infuriated her that she couldn't have what she desired.

_ 'Oh just wonderful'_, she thought irately. _'I've become some little brat. Perhaps I'm not as mature as people believe me to be?'_

She had thrown the biggest fit that any of the Cullens had ever seen, such to the point that even Rosalie, who usually turned a blind eye to the rare occurences of her precious niece's misdeeds, had scowled disapprovingly toward her. Renesmee hadn't cared though. She had been furious with the lot of them for keeping something that would effect her entire lifestyle from her. Not only had they moved her far away from Jacob Black, the olive skinned shape shifter for whom she felt so very deeply for, but they had also dared to keep her far away from the small town of Forks and, to her horror, planned not to return permanently. They had not discussed it with Jacob, already knowing how furious and miserable he would be with the idea, knowing that he would try to convince them and use his deeply rooted pain to try and sway their more compassionate sides. They had simply left, leaving the large white house completely empty, a note upon the door addressed to Jacob, and another one with Edward's beautiful elegant script pinned to Charlie Swan's door, explaining what was happening and why. It had heartbroken many for the Cullens to leave, taking the sweet angel Renesmee with them.

_ 'I wish they had left me behind...'_ she thought miserably.

The Denali coven had been delighted at the prospect of having the Cullens as guests and had welcomed them with open arms. Despite years having passed since then and Renesmee having grown into a young adult, she was still sulking and brooding, completely unhappy with her predicament. She had argued many times with her family since then about returning to Forks, but the arguments always ended up with her losing. Everyone, including the usually flexible Carlisle, had said that if the Cullens did move back, people would get highly suspicious about who Renesmee was and why she had such a striking resemblence to Edward and Bella. The only hope of ever returning to the rainy little town was if they waited a few decades and then returned but the sheer thought had been agony for Renesmee. She had wondered how her poor Jacob must have felt, learning that he would not be near her, knowing that he couldn't just run when he had a pack to lead, a pack that he couldn't just yank away from their rights and responsibilities just to go looking for her, something which was a stupid thing to try because the Cullens had made sure that they couldn't be tracked easily by Jacob. It had upset Renesmee deeply to learn that, her only bubble of hope having been popped with that news.

_ 'Damn! I'd been banking on him being able to track me! I hate it when my family is so thorough!' _she thought irately, though she could hardly be surprised; the Cullens never took shortcuts in any of their plans.

But that had not stopped her in the least. She was more determined than ever to find a loophole but it was difficult. Her family kept a constant watch upon her. She couldn't just escape. They'd be able to see, smell and hear her leaving the house; her heartbeat was an easy thing to hear, the warmth of her skin easily felt. It didn't help at all that Edward could read her thoughts and see every plan that ever passed her mind, something that Alice envied due to her inability to 'see' Renesmee at all. Carlisle and Esme did a wonderful job of reminding her how heartbroken her parents would be if she ever ran away, something that always made Renesmee's stomach lurch; she had disliked seeing her mother cry the first time and didn't like it anymore now, while also despising the thought of her father in pain, something she had seen once or twice, lingering behind his eyes when he was brooding on the past. Emmett joked that if she did try to leave, he'd have fun wrestling her to the ground, knowing she was almost as strong as the rest of them and therefore, was less likely to bruise as easily as a normal human might. Rosalie made a point of becoming sickeningly sweet whenever Renesmee so much as smiled, the unnaturally beautiful blonde reminding Renesmee of just how _gorgeous _she looked when she blushed, glowing like moonlight. Bella was the most unbearable, whose eyes would fill with tears each time she looked at her, though the reasons for this varied from overwhelming pride, love and adoration to anxiety and the constant, lurking fear that her daughter would suddenly be gone in the morning, something everyone had known that Renesmee had contemplated. And then, there was Jasper. Oddly, he did very little. He only seemed to monitor her emotions, which was the only annoying thing she found about her uncle. She wanted to be miserable, to be angry and depressed, so it irritated her when she suddenly felt calm, happy and relaxed. Jasper didn't bother staying around her for long periods of time anymore because her depression threatened to overwhelm him; he would always retreat to Alice and try to soak up her total devotion for him instead, something which only further depressed poor Renesmee.

_ 'Everyone has the one they love...except me...' _she thought.

She was out shopping, easily passing as a woman in her early twenties, as she would for the remainder of her life, Alice practically buzzing with happiness at the thought of having a shopping companion, something that Rosalie hadn't deemed very worthwhile, Esme had kindly declined and Bella had turned down flat without hesitation. Renesmee, however, wanted to get away from the lot of them. Alice was the only one who was practically a human when around her, unable to see her thoughts, too caught up in her shopaholic frenzy to be perceptive or inquisitive, something that Renesmee was quite grateful for. They had drove to Anchorage for the day, something which would have her parents fretting all day, though they were much more worried about Alice following through with her playful promise to take Renesmee shopping in Tokyo. That idea had appealed to Renesmee more than it should have. Not for the prospect of shopping and spending time with Alice but because if it was just Alice, she could get away so much easier, get back to Jacob, stay with him. They all knew how she felt; Edward and Jasper invaded her thoughts and feelings almost constantly, both of them able to touch her yearning for Jacob. Her mother couldn't bear to watch her dreams anymore; they all ended with Renesmee in Jacob's arms, both of them happier than any of the Cullens had seen before. That was all she wanted.

_ 'If I could just be left alone for a moment...' _she thought slyly as Alice twittered about some magnificent shoes she saw in a shop nearby, too distracted to notice Renesmee's vacant expression. _'...just a moment...I could nick the car and escape.'_

She knew Alice would be immensely upset if her beautiful yellow Porsche was stolen by her niece. Renesmee could drive very well, something that she'd been praised for considering what age she was supposed to be. She would never be truly accepted as a Cullen if she couldn't drive, something Emmett had teased her mercilessly about until she'd felt rather sick about it. She had her own car now and the discussion about which type she should drive had been argued down from another little Volvo like her father's to, much to Edward's dismay, a 1998 Pontiac Trans Ams convertible which was painted in a metallic purple and, was not only an immensely rare car, but it was frightfully fast, yet another thing that Edward didn't like about the car, but he'd had no say in the matter for Emmett had bought it on the day of her birthday and that was that. It would kill Renesmee to leave her car behind when she loved driving it, reminders of the days when she'd race Jacob to catch a kill. The thoughts made her smile as tears stung her eyes painfully. The car was nothing compared to Jacob. Jacob was everything to her. She was amazed and surprised she could actually function without him, but she felt hollow. Renesmee watched as her aunt flitted into the nearest store to grab an outfit that she had smelt, rather than seen.

"Wait here," was all Alice said before she was gone.

Renesmee had rolled her eyes and nodded before blinking rapidly.

_ 'Wait a second...wasn't I just thinking about leaving if given the opportunity?' _she thought, her gaze flickering to the very conspicuous canary yellow Porsche that was all the way back up the street.

She wasn't much of a runner like her father or Jacob, but she was fast enough to outrun Rosalie, Esme and Alice. She weighed up her chances, wondering how long it would take Alice to chase after her, to tackle her to the ground and contact her parents about her failed jail break. She knew that if her aunt caught her, the security that had been enforced would be doubled with her parents fears of her leaving forever. She knew that her wishes to leave were putting strains on her family ties, particularly with her parents but they didn't seem to understand, though she always used examples that they were familiar with. She had tried time and time again but they always said the same thing:

"That's different."

_ 'No...it's not different...not at all! It's exactly the same! Why can't they just admit it?'_ she thought viciously.

She had compared her need for Jacob and his need for her, the unlikely love that had blossomed between them, to her parents - two creatures in a relationship that was unusual and, for the most part, unheard of, both of them too obsessed with the other to truly care what anyone thought of their relationship and both unable to live without the other. True, they were alive but they could never really live, doomed to become a walking shell that seemed to have no purpose but to suffer. She had said those words to her family, to each of them. Only Carlisle and Esme seemed to listen, both of them sympathetic, gazes full of regret; she knew they couldn't stand to see her suffer. Usually her mother was the first to sacrifice her happiness for someone else but she also knew that Bella was aware Edward would be unhappy if their daughter left, for he would know that Bella would be secretly crushed and, therein laid Renesmee's problem. Both her mother and father would have let her go if it wouldn't hurt the other somehow. They hated seeing her suffer but they couldn't stand seeing each other suffer either. It was ironic that a parallel situation was occuring. Renesmee didn't _**want**_ to leave and hurt her family; that was the last thing she ever wanted to do to people who had fought to keep her alive, faced the most frightening and intimidating of all vampires.

_ 'Jacob was there too...' _she thought, reminding herself of the very person of whom she wanted to be near.

The memory of that day was as fresh in her mind as it was when it was happening. It was a memory she had wanted to supress but, at the same time, she kept reminding herself of it on purpose; so that she would never forget the sacrifices they had all been willing to make just for her. She always felt guilty about it too. But she felt moreso as she dashed up to the yellow Porsche, broke the lock on the car by simply yanking the door open-

_ 'Oops...Alice is going to kill me for that!' _thought Renesmee with regret. She was already betting that her psychic aunt had heard the sound from where she was within the store. No doubt she'd come rushing out in a moment, which meant Renesmee had seconds to hotwire the car and get out of there.

-climbed in quickly, ignoring the looks she was recieving from people who were gasping in shock - she could only imagine how she must look, hijacking someone's expensive sports car - as she leaned down and began flicking the wires together once she'd broken them.

"Come on, come on," she moaned, tapping her foot impatiently and glancing up as Alice flitted out of the store, looking around frantically. "Oh crap!"

The car roared to life as Alice came rushing over, her eyes wide, arms flailing, bags swinging violently as she tried to stop Renesmee.

_ 'Sorry Alice...'_ she thought ruefully, feeling rather bad about what she was about to do.

Renesmee slammed her foot down, the tyres began to spin one right after the other and then she shot forward the moment she pulled the gears into first, quickly shifting through them as she tried to get as far away as possible. The elation and excitement that rushed through her veins gave her the oddest thrill as she left Alice far behind, the dainty little vampire looking extremely annoyed and upset, a soft, heartbreaking pout upon her lips as they both realised she was going to have to deliver the news to Bella and Edward; she'd lost focus and, due to that, had lost their daughter. Renesmee felt a twinge of guilt but that passed quickly. She was free. She was finally escaping, no longer a prisoner within her own home. She was going to get caught once she stopped, so she didn't plan to do so until she was safe in La Push. Safe with the shape shifter wolves. Safe with the Blacks. Safe with her Jacob. She couldn't help but beam as she pushed the engine faster, knowing no police car would bother speeding after her when she was like a bullet upon the freeway.

"I'm going home," she whispered, unable to contain her excitement as it finally hit her; she was going back to Jacob and not even the Cullen family, the vampires that had swayed the Volturi on a number of occasions, could stop her now.


	2. Home

The Porsche stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of Forks. It hadn't taken her as long as she'd anticipated having driven Alice's car on full throttle the entire time. A few police cars had attempted to chase her but she easily left them in the dust, barely even pushing the motor as the police cars wheezed behind her. Taking down her plates wouldn't have worked either; she had been going too fast for anyone to have had a chance to get her plates, darting in and out of the traffic so that it was almost impossible to keep sight of her. Now the motor was a gentle hum as she drove slowly through the small town of Forks, many people pausing on the street to stare and whisper to one another. They had not seen an expensive car roll through town for years and the sudden appearance was causing quite a stir.

_'I just need to get to La Push,'_ she thought determinedly. _'I just need to get to Jacob.'_

Unconsciously, she revved the engine and the slammed her foot down, the car zipping forward without warning, startling a great deal of onlookers as she zoomed past. Unfortunately, she had to slow down once she hit the school; school zones sucked that way. She wasn't afraid of breaking the law but it was the end of the day and students were piling out, clambering to get into their cars, chatting to their friends and making plans for the upcoming weekend. Renesmee had practically begged her family to allow her to go to school but they had said it was far too dangerous. She hadn't been a danger to anyone in the school, despite having been so very young. At the time, she had been growing far too quickly, even if the growth had slowed down a lot. It was still noticeable enough to attract attention and to risk exposure like that was bad. Though her family had not said no to the idea of her going to college if that was what she wanted. She would have no problems keeping up with the work load and she had stopped growing, so even if she was there for a few years, no one would notice. But the problem would be that she would be far away from Jacob, attending an institution away from him for years. Bella had suggested that Jacob could go with her, but Renesmee had said no to that flat out. As selfish as she was, she could never ask Jacob to abandon his duties as the Alpha just for her.

"He'd do it," had said Bella encouragingly; her mother had been taking every road possible to keep her daughter away from Forks unless it was absolutely necessary. "If he'd risk his life for you, he'd do this."

"I know he would," Renesmee had replied sadly. "And that's why I won't ask."

The teenagers that spilled out of the school all piled within the parking lot, gasping as Renesmee tried to get through the afternoon traffic, her shiny car easily getting more attention than she wanted it to. Many young males stopped to stare appreciatively as she was forced to remain immobile as a very old Chevy wheezed backwards at an agonizingly slow pace.

"Oh come on!" growled Renesmee, pressing a button to make her window roll down.

She stuck her head out of the window to shout at the driver to hurry up or she'd give him a nice new dint, but her attention was refocused as, the males who had been staring at the Porsche, were now staring at her and wolf whistling without shame. She rolled her eyes and pulled herself back into the car but the damage was done. They had seen who was in the car and a few of them were brave enough to approach her. One had platinum blonde hair which was short and spiked up. Everything he wore was designer and Renesmee knew he must have been new to the area because no one wore what he was wearing without being influenced by more fashionable regions of the world. Forks was not know for its style and high class designer outlets.

"Hey there," he said, his tone suave and his bright blue eyes eying her up and down appreciatively.

Renesmee wasn't sure if she should bother making contact with them.

_'If I make contact, then they'll think I'm interested. If I don't, it's rude,'_ she thought, biting her lip for a moment.

"Are you mute, babe?" he asked, chuckling.

She almost saw red. She hated that word. Every male under the sun seemed to think that it was okay to address her that way, even if they didn't know her at all. It infuriated her that they all believed they even had a chance with her when there was no way in Hell she'd touch any of them with a long pole. She turned her head and smiled in a sickening, sweet sort of way that would have made her barf if she saw it herself.

"No, I'm not mute," she said flatly. "And I'm not your babe."

She snapped her head around to the windscreen, watching as the truck before her finally turned to a vertical position but the motor stalled and died, so the driver was forced to start it again, getting furious with the old vehicle.

_'Oh for the love of all that's holy!' _she thought irately.

"Nice ride," he said airily, trying to brush off the fact that his good looks and charms weren't working on her.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?"

She knew she had decades of apologies to make up for stealing Alice's beloved Porsche.

"Not half as nice as my ride though," he said, a small smirk slipping onto his face, gesturing to a convertible which sat in the parking lot; next to the Porsche, it looked like Herbie.

_'He's got to be kidding...' _she thought in amusement. _'What a hunk of crap!'_

"Maybe you'd like a ride in mine later," he continued, his smirk devilish and suggestive.

_'Ugh,' _she thought in disgust. _'Ew.'_

"I like motorbikes," she said bluntly then added as an afterthought, "And gentlemen."

She glanced at the truck in front of her and grinned as it finally moved forward. Without another word and leaving the pompous teen gaping shock, she slammed her foot down on the accelerator and shot forward once more. She caught a glimpse of his friends laughing hysterically nearby, clearly beyond amused by his failed attempt before everything blurred a little and she easily bypassed the dying truck to get closer to La Push. She had taken for granted how close it would be once she was in Forks, totally forgetting that she may encounter things that might slow her down, too sure that she could get there in no time at all. She was worried about how close the Cullens were on her tail and, even stranger still, she wondered why she kept referring to them as the Cullens and not her family. It was as though in the particular situation, they weren't kin. And in a way, they weren't. They were trying to keep her from Jacob. It was only a precaution but Renesmee didn't care. She was the one who felt her heart splitting everyday that she was away from him, not them. They were the enemy until they stopped being stupid and stopped trying to yank her away from Jacob.

"Almost there," she muttered as she crossed the treaty line that had been made long ago.

Renesmee could not pick up scents as potently as her family could or the shape shifting wolf pack either, but she caught slight fragances within the air and she was easily able to distinguish certain ones within the air. She knew her family's individual scents and they lingered ever so slightly in areas where they had been densely before. But other than that, there was no trace that the Cullen family had ever graced the Olympic Peninsula. Traces of the wolves saturated the area heavily though not as much as she had expected. She scowled and drove on down to La Push, the roar of the engine capturing a bit of attention before she parked out the front of the Black's house, taking a deep breath, unable to contain her excitement.

_'Here goes...' _she thought.

She stepped out of the car and stood up straight, looking around, wondering where Jacob would be. His scent was everywhere so it was impossible to tell which way he went and which was freshest. It was rather annoying.

"Can I help you?"

It was a voice she knew. It filled her with a warmth that sunlight usually bestowed upon her, which was now blocked by the usual dreary clouds that the Peninsula was accustomed to. She turned on her heel and looked up at the porch, her large chocolate brown orbs meeting dark brown eyes that widened with shock. She knew he would recognize her before the wind picked up and blew her scent in his direction. His hair was long again, black as the darkest night as it draped around his shoulders. The usual T-shirt and jeans covered his body, making him look more of a dag than usual. He was huge as he'd ever been. He looked like he was having a heart attack.

"...N...nessie?" he gasped, almost shaking his head.

She gave one short little nod and then a brilliant, dazzlingly white smile graced his face, the wind blew past them, carrying her scent with it and, within a second that seemed like forever, he dashed to her side and crushed her to his chest, her fingers curling within his hair as they embraced for the first time in years, though this time, she was finally able to wrap her arms around him and hold on tight, and this time, no one would take her from him. Not again. Not ever.


End file.
